The world was ending.
Ground shifted, birthing temples and apparitions. The fundamental rules of existence had become clay to be shaped by whoever held the superior Dao. Mist-covered mountains twisted and expanded, losing their shape under the molding of invisible hands. They turned into spiral staircases reaching for the skies, except the sky had already been replaced.
Up and down were inverted, an ocean without end had replaced the heavenly dome. Its waves were made of Sanskrit that held the most sacred of scripture. Catheya knew better than to go further than stealing furtive looks. She couldn't afford the Karma the golden waters carried, and she couldn't bear the answers whispered in the wind.
In the middle of it all, where the Seat of Communion once stood, towered a golden Buddha a hundred miles tall. Catheya still couldn't tell whether it was a living being or a statue. She only knew all hell broke loose when the Daedalian Court's Grand Elder awoke their memories of past lives and immediately turned traitor. The next moment, the seated Buddha took center stage.
It was initially seated on a large disk made by an unfathomably complex knot of Karma. It echoed the Dao of Samsara, and countless bridges funneled it with power from every corner of the Left Imperial Expanse. The Dharma completely overwhelmed the Daedalian Court and directly ignited the last two halos. If a tremendous surge of Imperial Faith hadn't destroyed the disk, the court would have fallen already.
The Buddha was terrifying enough without its seat. It exuded a profound aura that not even the memory domain could endure, forcing it to cede territory. Its existence was not something trial-takers like them could resist, let alone destroy. Catheya would have donned the Kaseya if not for her souped-up Earthly Domain.
More than anything, it was a matter of luck. She had just found the coordinates she was looking for and elicited the help of Abbot Everlasting Peace to take her there. It was hidden within a complex loop of Karmic rejection, and the monk had proven himself capable of navigating such waters. The abbot, desperate to make amends, was more than happy to help.
As such, they found themselves in a remote corner of the court when the Sangha made its move. It spared them the full effect of the divine descent, with ten thousand miles of Imperial Faith acting as a wall of insulation against the Buddhist hymns.
Unfortunately, the ancient powerhouses found themselves incapable of dealing with the invader. They were stuck in the past while the Buddha appeared to be tethered to the present. The imperials couldn't interact with the Buddha's domain, though they were subject to its emanations. They were running around like headless chickens trying to put out fires that they couldn't see.
That wasn't to say they were passively allowing their domain to be converted into a Buddhist paradise. The clouds that once adorned the mountains had turned into ethereal chains that prevented the golden staircases from reaching the sea in the sky. Many bridges had collapsed entirely, torn down by the furious rejection of the Imperial Fate. The empire would rather see their fields burn than have them used by their enemies.
Abbot Everlasting Peace silently moved by her side, his inner struggle plain to see. Catheya pitied the man. His faith was pure, but the world was not. The past months had been an exercise in futility as he tried to find light in the darkness. Ultimately, he was utterly incapable of changing the trajectories or resolving the ongoing war between the Limitless Empire and the Buddhist Sangha. The only thing he'd accomplished was becoming a pariah among his brothers.
Catheya's heart didn't suffer any turmoil at the scene. Enmity against the monks was engraved in the hearts of every citizen of the Undead Empire, but she knew better than to put herself on a collision course against those madmen. She'd seen a Revenant from Tavza An'Azol's contingent give it a try. A month later, he'd donned the frock.
She had her hands full pursuing her goals. In some ways, the commotion was working in her favor. Who'd bother with their comings and goings when the sky was falling? Many Karmic safeguards had weakened under the Dharmic pressures, and her companion found it easier to open new routes.
Reality flickered as they ran along a narrow passage. One moment, they were traversing a steep mountain slope. The next, they stood upon a Karmic Bridge. Abbot Everlasting Peace formed a sutra, and the waves of Dharma grew stronger. The bridge solidified and branched out. Catheya directly set down the new path.
Following the clues she'd collected over months of effort, they finally stood before a small manor carved directly into the mountain wall. At that point, she could feel the call from within.
From the moment she'd stepped through the gates and entered the Daedalian Court, Catheya's goal was to fix up her path-defining treasure. After a lot of work and some luck, she found records of the [Grand Unifier's Crown] in a historical account. The crown was a gift from a powerful sage called Fuxi to the Department of Rites.
A department head of the Department of Rites later lent the crown to a descendant who was never heard from again. From what Catheya saw when she picked it up, he was met with misfortune on the outside. Catheya could probably have turned the treasure in for an enormous reward, but she couldn't bear to part with it no matter the price.
The department head was severely punished, but the court didn't make a huge matter out of it. After all, the core of the crown remained within the Daedalian Court. It was temporarily borrowed for use in an experiment, leaving only its minor arrays intact. The sage who crafted the crown was a master at unifying opposing forces, and the Daedalian Court wanted to incorporate some of his theories into their bridge of Karma.
The core of the [Grand Unifier's Crown] waited within the very manor before her. And she couldn't reach it.
"These restrictions," Catheya frowned as she looked at the impenetrable barrier surrounding the manor.
"Amitabha, there is no Dharma within. I cannot open a road," the abbot said.
Breaking through was out of the question. The barrier appeared to be connected to the court's Grand Array. Even if they could force it open, it would undoubtedly trigger an alarm. Just being on this hidden mountain likely broke some unspoken rules. Catheya drew on the strength of her crown, hoping to elicit a response. It didn't, yet the heavens provided a different path.
A powerful earthquake ripped through the Daedalian Court. Enormous tears opened in the ground, and the ambient energies were thrown into chaos. From the depths, a familiar taint seeped out. The closer to the Buddha at the court's heart, the more intense the cracks were.
"Ancient Mara!" Abbot Everlasting Peace gasped as he looked at the golden Buddha in the distance.
"What do you—" The words died in Catheya's throat as seventeen enormous sigils appeared in the heart of the Daedalian Court.
For a moment, it seemed as though seventeen glorious peaks had appeared to replace the mountains twisted by Dharmic decree. Each exuded an overwhelming power, surpassing anything Catheya had seen before. They carried the will of a world and the heart of an enemy unified against their foe.
Catheya immediately understood that the Empire had unleashed its true contingency. She dragged the shocked Abbot into a crevasse partly covered by the manor's array. She added a few more arrays of her own despite knowing it wouldn't make much of a difference. Whatever came next wouldn't be pretty.
The Dao Peaks didn't levy their force against the towering Buddha. They were calling something, and soon, an enormous crack opened in the earth. Beneath was a bottomless darkness, from which a pitch-black bridge more than a hundred miles across emerged. It absolutely dwarfed the roads that made up the Bridge of Karma. It couldn't possibly be the core of the continent-spanning array either, because it emitted a very familiar madness.
It was like an Era's accumulation of Ultom's filth had been stored in the bridge, and it all poured into the seated Buddha. Past and present blurred as the First Era's Corruption ignored any and all restrictions. The Buddha's radiant halo faded as madness twisted the Dharma and turned it against itself.
The holy domain that surrounded the golden Deity was no longer invisible to the Daedalian Court. She could hear drums calling to battle, and her disciple token vibrated from receiving orders. Disciples and elders were already flooding the chaotic battlefield opened up by the First Era's twisted Dao. The environment was clearly hostile to all, with both Buddhist apparitions and disciples losing their minds to the corruptions.
Catheya had to give it to the Limitless Empire. Like the infuriating monks, they knew how to benefit from any situation. The corruption pervading the continent was undoubtedly a problem for their plans, and they'd found the perfect way to get rid of some of it. By the looks of it, the statue was not just a target; it appeared to be connected to one of the Four Oceans. Even the Buddhist headquarters might be tainted through the Karmic Bond.
The addition of such a volatile element had an immediate effect. The golden sea in the sky erupted with power, pouring everything into the statue in an attempt to cleanse it. A bell tolled, and the whole memory domain collapsed. Catheya's mind spun as hymns filled her head. It all stilled when the abbot placed his hand on her shoulder.
Catheya's head throbbed with pain as she got to her feet. This wasn't the time to laze about. The supermassive memory domain that made up the Daedalian Court had collapsed. Thousands of cracked mountains surrounded them, suspended in a dark space. Pieces of broken bridges floated in the void between them, adding to the desolate air.
There was no sign of the Buddha, the golden sea, or the tainted battlefield. Reality had been split, with them thankfully stuck on the outside. The mountain they stood on was no different. The manor was still there, now covered in scars and dust. With no Grand Array to power its arrays, the barrier was already gone. The call from within remained. Catheya rushed inside, only sparing a moment to scan for threats. She could feel the memory domain would soon reform.
A foot of dust was gathered into a ball with a wave of her arm, exposing the instruments below. Following the beckoning, she arrived at a deep scar in the depths. Looking inside, she vaguely saw something shimmer. Her hand found something hard after squeezing inside, and she pulled out a radiant sapphire.
Catheya was mesmerized by the fluctuations it released. The feeling was almost like when she absorbed the seal. New ideas on how to improve her [Black Ice Cosmos] by enhancing the fusion of her Earthly Harmonization and Dao Domain emerged. True unity was possible, and the [Grand Unifier's Crown] could lead the way.
As much as she wanted to, Catheya knew this wasn't the time to investigate. She pushed the sapphire against the crown, and they seamlessly fused into one. Then, the treasure sank into her mind, invisible even to the Deacons of the Department of Rites. Catheya swept through the manor next, hoping to find information on the experiment or the crown. Unfortunately, time had eroded anything else of value.
Catheya emerged just in time. The mountains were now surrounded by a sea of Imperial Faith. Their forces gathered, and the memory domain was restored. Abbot Everlasting Peace hadn't moved throughout, his face a mask of suffering as he watched the war expand. Both sides were calling for reinforcements through the bridge of Karma.
Catheya also spotted the three-bodied monk who led the Sangha's contingent of Sealbearers. Rather than throwing himself into battle, he was flying toward the enormous statue. Anyone who tried to stop him was intercepted by ruthless devas. Catheya didn't want to find out what his meddling would accomplish or if someone would swoop in to save the day.
"I'm leaving. What about you?" Catheya asked.
"I—" Abbot Everlasting Peace faltered.
"Look, it doesn't matter if you want to support your brothers or if you want to somehow stop the madness. It's too late, and things will only get worse before they get better. Neither side is ready to give in, and their actions will only grow more ruthless. We're just ants who can be erased by an errant strike. What's the point in dying such a meaningless death?"
"Benefactor is right," the Abbot said with a sorrowful expression.
"At the very least, we need to get back on the bridge and add some distance from the court," Catheya said. "Honestly, I don't expect this place to survive, so I plan on leaving for good."
"Then let us depart," the old man said, looking around. "This way."
The Abbot guided them down another set of winding roads, following routes only accessible to those wielding the power of Karma. They were quickly adding both physical and metaphorical distance between themselves and the battle, yet the fluctuations carrying over grew stronger. Whoever won would become a king of the ashes.
Catheya's heart was in her throat, praying the Bridge of Karma could endure. She had no idea how they were supposed to leave the Daedalian Court without it. It didn't seem to have a physical location in the Left Imperial expanse. She also prayed the combatants would allow their escape. She still remembered the chaos at Twilight Harbor, and the forces involved that time barely reached B-grade.
Praying wasn't enough to make it true. Something managed to cut off the Buddha's hand, unleashing a torrent of blood in the form of pure Dao. Six rivers swept through the Daedalian Court, swallowing mountains and filling gulleys. Anything they touched was transformed, and one of them was coming right for them. Abbot Everlasting Peace burned his lifespan to forcibly open a route out of there, yet it made no difference.
Some of the Dao Blood latched onto the abbot's road and followed them out of the court. Upon seeing it, the monk decisively stopped and stomped down. A complex array filled the entirety of the bridge.
"What are you doing?" Catheya screamed with alarm.
She tried dragging him along, but it was like the monk had fused with the bridge. Staying was not an option, so she could only keep running to save herself. She didn't get far before the river caught up to them. Catheya gritted her teeth and prepared to jump into the vast emptiness beyond the bridge. Anything was better than becoming a mindless vessel. Who knew, she might survive long enough for the trial to end and the System to whisk her out.
Abbot Everlasting Peace didn't get that option. He was swallowed whole by the expanding wave of Dharma. Despite being diluted by distance and the confined space of the abbot's bridge, the energies easily reached Middle C-grade. It was not something a Middle Hegemon like the Abbot could contend with. And yet, he stood there with a serene expression, as if he were without a care in the world.
Catheya's heart tightened. Had he already succumbed? If so, she'd not only lost her guide, but she might have gained a powerful enemy.
"I miss it..." Abbot Everlasting Peace said with a sorrowful smile.
It was at that point Catheya realized the river had been stopped in its tracks. Catheya wanted to use that window to add distance, only there was nowhere to go. The path before her had faded, as if the abbot could no longer support it.
The Abbot continued, seemingly unaware of Catheya's plight. "Since the day I left my temple, I've strayed further from my path, every step leaving me more lost."
"It's not too late to turn things around," Catheya said. "If you can, open a new—"
"Indeed. It's not too late to turn away from the sea of regret," the monk said. The next moment, the array before him ignited. It swallowed the river and harnessed it for his purpose. A flickering gateway reeking of blissful Death opened just fifty meters away.
"A path through Samsara into Hell. This is as far as I can take you," the monk said. "Tell your Dao Companion... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left that day."
A pang of sorrow didn't stop Catheya from leaping onto the unstable gate. As she did, the sweltering heat of Buddhist glory all but disappeared. She'd entered another plane, one whose Karma was severed. She turned around just in time to see the monk's body melt into motes of shimmering gold. He had burned everything he had left to bring her out in one piece.
"The Sangha didn't deserve you," Catheya sighed as the gate closed. "May you find peace."